The present invention relates to tools and hardware used in building and construction. In particular a novel shelf support.
A number of wall mounting shelf supports are available on the market today. These include static fixed height supports and adjustable height wall mounting shelf support devices. The static fixed height shelf supports are fixed angle supports and secured to a wall by bolts or screws. There are several disadvantages to these types of shelf supports. More specifically the angle of the support cannot be adjusted, they cannot be easily detached from the wall without unscrewing the bolts securing the shelf support in place and when not in use the supports protrude from the wall and may cause injury to the user.
Adjustable height shelf support devices usually comprise a vertical mounting bar that is mounted to the wall by a series of screws or bolts and a number of shelf supports that may be removably affixed into the mounting bar. There are several disadvantages to this type of shelf support system. In particular, proper use of these systems requires that the vertical mounting bars be affixed to the wall parallel to each other. This is difficult for an inexperienced user to align the mounting bars such that they are relatively parallel. In addition, the mounting bars must be aligned horizontally so that the shelf supports when affixed to the mounting bar support a shelf evenly and so the shelf is level when placed on the supports. Finally these shelf supports are fixed angle supports and cannot be adjusted. Consequently the user must purchase more than one set of supports if different angles for the shelves are desired.
Therefore, there is a need for a shelf support that does not require additional equipment such as a vertical mounting bar, that may be adjusted to a desired angle and may be safely secured against the wall support when not in use.
The present invention provides a shelf support for mounting to a wall support beam comprising a top side having a width of a wall support beam, a back end, a front end and two sides wherein the two sides are adjacent to each other and perpendicular to the top side each having a rear end and a forward end wherein the rear end extends about 2 to about 4 inches past the back end of the top side and descends about 3 to about 10 inches from the top side and the forward end descends about 0 to about 1 inch from the top side and wherein the two sides each having at least two apertures, one aperture for pivotally mounting said shelf support to a wall support beam and the other aperture for adjusting the angle of said shelf support. The shelf support may be from about 3 inches to about 20 inches in length. Preferably, between about 6 inches to about 15 inches. Most preferably about 8 inches to about 12 inches.
In one embodiment of the present invention the shelf support further comprises an angle set pin to allow adjustment of the shelf support to a desired angle. The angle set pin may further comprise a locking means such as for example a nut, a flexible grommet, a retractable flange, a depressible ball and a cotter pin. In addition, the shelf support may further comprise an attachment means to attach the angle set pin to the shelf support. The attachment means may be a chain, a cord, a tie or a rope and may be made of a durable material such as metal, plastic or a combination of metal and plastic.
In another embodiment the shelf support further comprises at least one securing aperture on said top side to allow a shelf, for example, to be secured to the shelf support. In addition the shelf support may have at least one affixing means to allow items to be affixed to other areas than the top side of the shelf support. The affixing means may be a hole, a hook, a pin or a slot.
In yet another embodiment of the invention the rear ends of the two sides are shaped such that the shelf support can be pivoted downward and parallel with the wall support beam. To assist in mounting the shelf support on the wall support beam it may further comprise at least one alignment mark on one or both of the two sides. In addition, the shelf support of the present invention may further comprise a plurality of angle adjustment apertures to allow the user to select the desired angle of the mounted shelf support. The shelf support may further comprise degree markings adjacent to the plurality of apertures identifying corresponding adjustment angles for the shelf support.
In still another embodiment of the present invention the shelf support further comprises at least one adapter able to be secured into a securing aperture of the top side. The adapters may be used for mounting items such as a kayak, pipe, a bike, lumber.
In another aspect of the present invention kits are provided comprising at least one shelf support, a bolt for each shelf support to pivotally mount the support and an angle adjustment pin for each shelf support. One kit further comprises a hole drilling alignment device another kit further comprises at least one adapter.